1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a strip till implement and more particularly to a strip till implement which is used to remove crop debris or trash from the till strip in advance of a planter unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Strip till farming has become increasingly popular since the early 1990s. Strip till farming involves tilling a field in strips with the strips being only 7-10 inches wide, leaving the rest of the field undisturbed. In some cases, the entire strip till farming operation is performed in a single pass while in other cases the strip till farming operation is performed in two passes. In the single pass strip till operation, the strips are tilled, cleared of trash or crop residue, fertilized and planted, usually in the spring. In the two pass strip till operation, the strips are normally tilled and fertilized in the fall and then planted in the spring. During the period from the fall tilling to the spring planting in the two pass strip till operation, trash (crop residue) may blow onto the tilled strip. In the spring, the fact that trash has blown onto the tilled strip results in difficulty in planting. Further, if the seeds are planted into the trash, proper germination of the seeds will not occur. One attempt to clear the trash from the strips in the spring, in the two pass operation, is to pull ground-driven row cleaning wheels along the strips, in advance of the planter unit, which are supposed to throw the trash laterally from the strips. Although the trash clearing wheels do work to some degree, they normally do not completely remove the trash from the strips which affects the germination of the seeds and thus the yield.